June 18, 2022
Ecological Devastation at the Birdnow Residence
Timothy Birdnow
The mouse situation here at Casa Birdnow has been pretty much under control, but I get some occasional young mouse run amok in here.
A couple of days ago a young'un decided to colonize our piano. Mice have done that before, and in fact have largely destroyed the beautiful instrument, urinating all over the keys as well as dropping their little pellets, and they have chewed through a couple of the piano strings. It's heartbreaking; my wife's mother gave her the piano and she used to play it until she became sick. Now it has mice living in the underside where we can't get at them.
The piano is in an entry foyer to our home, which is attached at a perpendicular to our living room/dining room. Since my wife's illness I have settled in the living room permanently, sleeping in a lazyboy chair (it's actually better for my back). So any first floor mouse activity is monitored closely by me.
I had prettty much done the mice in there. The room looks like a war zone, with mousetraps instead of land mines, nigh unto everywhere. I REALLY didn't want the little love children in that piano! And for a long time nobody tried it.
But recently a marauding mouse decided it was too good a spot to pass up, and she (I assume it was a nesting mother) squatted on my musical property, running amok at night and annoying me to no end.
Last night I was awakened several times from clicking mousy toenails on the hardwood floor, or scratching sounds from asundry places (the dining room table, the couch). I vowed "I'll get you my pretty, and your mousy chums too!" but the little pest didn't seem very concerned.
Well, she got concerned, and I made good on my threat. This morning I found her caught on one of my glue traps.
I felt sorry for her, despite the fact she was driving me crazy. She apparently had been stuck for a while, and the fight was gone out of her. I wasn't sure she was still alive, but when I picked up the trap (using an old broom handle; I got scratched by one of those beasts before) she let out a forlorne squeek of despair. It made me sad; the mouse was just trying to live her life (and probably make ready for a litter) and she had probablly grown up in this house - it was her world. As far as she was concerned I was a terrible monster, like the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk. She had gotten cocky and it cost her her little rodent life.
I felt bad as I dispatched her with the fireplace shovel. Once stuck on the traps you cannot get a mouse (or anything else) off, so she was dead as soon as she stepped on it. I feel bad about killing so many of God's creatures; they have a right to live too. BUT they do not have a right to live in MY house, eating MY food, tearing up MY furniture, and pooping all over MY stuff. If there was a way of reasoning with them I would do it. I'd let them stay in the basement on cold or hot days, and maybe even feed them (as people do birds) but they breed so dern fast and they take over everything. Shoot, they even scratch open bags of poison if you let them. I have to put the bags in a place where they cannot go. It's crazy, but they get hungry and they take whatever they please. Basically they are thieves and marauders.
So I don't mind killing them, but it does bother me sometimes. I felt great pity for this mouse who made the mistake of walking on a glue trap. She was going to die and she knew it.
I am not sure if she was the only one annoying me though. They tend to move in waves. I think they are rather better organized than we know, coming in groups where they can offer mutual support. The quiet I'm observing now may be just a tactical retreat by a group of them.
The more I learn about the little devils the more fascinating they become. I really can see the similarities between mice and Men. They clearly have a social structure, communicate (they learn very quicklly where traps are located and you have to move them constantly), and never send their best people into combat (they tend to stay behind to guard the nests.) They have a fascinating psychology, even though I still hate them with a passion.
I think I've got all the access points blocked now. I hope so. If they can get out they can get IN as well.
Actually, it's felt like the plagues of Egypt around here recently. Somehow some flies got in and are buzzing all over the place. I've tried to flying insect spray and some fly bait and the activity has reduced but I still here the occasional buzz of the filthy insects. I've also developed a waterbug problem, and my glue traps for the mice have caught more waterbugs than mice (it smells sweet to them, I gather). I could get some frogs to deal with the flies and maybe the waterbugs as well but then we would probably have a plague of frogs as in Egypt! If our water turns to blood I'm outta here!
I've been spraying ant and roach spray along all the baseboards. That seems to have helped with the waterbugs, but I don't know for sure.
I think these plagues are interconnected. Mice leave fecal matter and even their dead and the waterbugs and flies feast on that. (The mice do too in winter when food is scarce; they eat their own wastes and their dead). So these plagues are ecological, a result of an unique ecology in our house. With mice in the walls it's unavoidable we will have things that live off them. And the flies may not go into the walls but the mice leave droppings all over the house (I've been forever cleaning up after the unsanitary and rude house guests) and no doubt the flies can feed off that. It's especially true in the basement, where I don't go regularly.
Our house is worse than the Ozark Hilton in terms of infestations. But that is no surprise; there I am not the apex predator, and the apex predators do their job and maintain a proper ecological balance. But here? Everything starts with us; we have to kill them or they will flourish.
I'd love to bring in a ratsnake or two. Or some other rodent hating critter. Cats would be fine, but they will go mad from the sound of mouse squeeling (something we can't hear.) When we had cats we never had a problem like this. Maybe I'll buy a falcon or two...
At any rate, I eliminated one source of annoyance and possible breeding. How many are left? Not sure. It seems unlikely I will ever get them all.
I sure do hate those things!
The mouse situation here at Casa Birdnow has been pretty much under control, but I get some occasional young mouse run amok in here.
A couple of days ago a young'un decided to colonize our piano. Mice have done that before, and in fact have largely destroyed the beautiful instrument, urinating all over the keys as well as dropping their little pellets, and they have chewed through a couple of the piano strings. It's heartbreaking; my wife's mother gave her the piano and she used to play it until she became sick. Now it has mice living in the underside where we can't get at them.
The piano is in an entry foyer to our home, which is attached at a perpendicular to our living room/dining room. Since my wife's illness I have settled in the living room permanently, sleeping in a lazyboy chair (it's actually better for my back). So any first floor mouse activity is monitored closely by me.
I had prettty much done the mice in there. The room looks like a war zone, with mousetraps instead of land mines, nigh unto everywhere. I REALLY didn't want the little love children in that piano! And for a long time nobody tried it.
But recently a marauding mouse decided it was too good a spot to pass up, and she (I assume it was a nesting mother) squatted on my musical property, running amok at night and annoying me to no end.
Last night I was awakened several times from clicking mousy toenails on the hardwood floor, or scratching sounds from asundry places (the dining room table, the couch). I vowed "I'll get you my pretty, and your mousy chums too!" but the little pest didn't seem very concerned.
Well, she got concerned, and I made good on my threat. This morning I found her caught on one of my glue traps.
I felt sorry for her, despite the fact she was driving me crazy. She apparently had been stuck for a while, and the fight was gone out of her. I wasn't sure she was still alive, but when I picked up the trap (using an old broom handle; I got scratched by one of those beasts before) she let out a forlorne squeek of despair. It made me sad; the mouse was just trying to live her life (and probably make ready for a litter) and she had probablly grown up in this house - it was her world. As far as she was concerned I was a terrible monster, like the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk. She had gotten cocky and it cost her her little rodent life.
I felt bad as I dispatched her with the fireplace shovel. Once stuck on the traps you cannot get a mouse (or anything else) off, so she was dead as soon as she stepped on it. I feel bad about killing so many of God's creatures; they have a right to live too. BUT they do not have a right to live in MY house, eating MY food, tearing up MY furniture, and pooping all over MY stuff. If there was a way of reasoning with them I would do it. I'd let them stay in the basement on cold or hot days, and maybe even feed them (as people do birds) but they breed so dern fast and they take over everything. Shoot, they even scratch open bags of poison if you let them. I have to put the bags in a place where they cannot go. It's crazy, but they get hungry and they take whatever they please. Basically they are thieves and marauders.
So I don't mind killing them, but it does bother me sometimes. I felt great pity for this mouse who made the mistake of walking on a glue trap. She was going to die and she knew it.
I am not sure if she was the only one annoying me though. They tend to move in waves. I think they are rather better organized than we know, coming in groups where they can offer mutual support. The quiet I'm observing now may be just a tactical retreat by a group of them.
The more I learn about the little devils the more fascinating they become. I really can see the similarities between mice and Men. They clearly have a social structure, communicate (they learn very quicklly where traps are located and you have to move them constantly), and never send their best people into combat (they tend to stay behind to guard the nests.) They have a fascinating psychology, even though I still hate them with a passion.
I think I've got all the access points blocked now. I hope so. If they can get out they can get IN as well.
Actually, it's felt like the plagues of Egypt around here recently. Somehow some flies got in and are buzzing all over the place. I've tried to flying insect spray and some fly bait and the activity has reduced but I still here the occasional buzz of the filthy insects. I've also developed a waterbug problem, and my glue traps for the mice have caught more waterbugs than mice (it smells sweet to them, I gather). I could get some frogs to deal with the flies and maybe the waterbugs as well but then we would probably have a plague of frogs as in Egypt! If our water turns to blood I'm outta here!
I've been spraying ant and roach spray along all the baseboards. That seems to have helped with the waterbugs, but I don't know for sure.
I think these plagues are interconnected. Mice leave fecal matter and even their dead and the waterbugs and flies feast on that. (The mice do too in winter when food is scarce; they eat their own wastes and their dead). So these plagues are ecological, a result of an unique ecology in our house. With mice in the walls it's unavoidable we will have things that live off them. And the flies may not go into the walls but the mice leave droppings all over the house (I've been forever cleaning up after the unsanitary and rude house guests) and no doubt the flies can feed off that. It's especially true in the basement, where I don't go regularly.
Our house is worse than the Ozark Hilton in terms of infestations. But that is no surprise; there I am not the apex predator, and the apex predators do their job and maintain a proper ecological balance. But here? Everything starts with us; we have to kill them or they will flourish.
I'd love to bring in a ratsnake or two. Or some other rodent hating critter. Cats would be fine, but they will go mad from the sound of mouse squeeling (something we can't hear.) When we had cats we never had a problem like this. Maybe I'll buy a falcon or two...
At any rate, I eliminated one source of annoyance and possible breeding. How many are left? Not sure. It seems unlikely I will ever get them all.
I sure do hate those things!
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
09:15 AM
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1
They're kinda like Democrats, aren't they?
Remind me that I'm not coming to visit you anytime soon...
Remind me that I'm not coming to visit you anytime soon...
Posted by: Dana Mathewson at June 18, 2022 02:04 PM (pdDZ2)
2
BTW, Tim, I thought you said you found the place where the little darlings were getting into the house. Apparently, you need to look harder. And have you considered hiring a pest control outfit?
Posted by: Dana Mathewson at June 18, 2022 02:27 PM (pdDZ2)
3
They ARE like Democrats! And I wouldn't be surprised to find them on the voter rolls too!
I found the entry points, I think. But now they are breeding in here.
I have all the food containerized, so eventually the poison I leave out will be the only thing to eat. I hope.
I've considered doing that but I know several people who had pest companies come and treat for mice, and I'm doing exactly what they would do. Seal points of entry, set up poison stations where mice are evident, and wait them out. There is no spray for 'em, alas.
Cathy doesn't want to have a bunch of people traipsing about right now. Maybe when she's a little better.
I found the entry points, I think. But now they are breeding in here.
I have all the food containerized, so eventually the poison I leave out will be the only thing to eat. I hope.
I've considered doing that but I know several people who had pest companies come and treat for mice, and I'm doing exactly what they would do. Seal points of entry, set up poison stations where mice are evident, and wait them out. There is no spray for 'em, alas.
Cathy doesn't want to have a bunch of people traipsing about right now. Maybe when she's a little better.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at June 19, 2022 09:04 AM (rbFYc)
4
Breeding in the house? OMG! Well, set the traps and wait till they're gone, I guess. Too bad there's no chemicals you could distribute that would sterilize the little darlings.
Posted by: Dana Mathewson at June 20, 2022 01:08 PM (pdDZ2)
5
Yeah; it's a disturbing thought, but that is how mice roll.
My previous mice outbreaks all happened in fall or early spring; they went outside in summer to forage. This year I think they can't get out which is why they are now active. I caught two of the brown ones in a glue trap (I find the brown ones are often in pairs) and I've seen only brown ones. I wonder if the white ones aren't dead?
Mice will eat their own fecal matter and their own dead, so their food supply will remain for a while, alas. But they prefer anything to those two emergency foods, naturally. A lot of poison has disappeared in recent weeks, and that has slowed down in the last week. I may be nearing an endpoint. I hope.
My sister in law had a mouse infestation in their swanky resort-like home. The exterminators said they had over a thousand mice! I sure do hope we don't have that many.
I so wish there was a spray that killed them. But mice are closely related to us and anything that would hurt them would hurt us.
I tried those sonic things. They do absolutely nothing. You would think with those big ears the mice would stay far away from those, but they don't seem to do anything. Make interesting night lights though.
The mice tore into the bag of poison the other day. That suggests starvation. I had it inside a plastic bag inside a cardboard box.
My previous mice outbreaks all happened in fall or early spring; they went outside in summer to forage. This year I think they can't get out which is why they are now active. I caught two of the brown ones in a glue trap (I find the brown ones are often in pairs) and I've seen only brown ones. I wonder if the white ones aren't dead?
Mice will eat their own fecal matter and their own dead, so their food supply will remain for a while, alas. But they prefer anything to those two emergency foods, naturally. A lot of poison has disappeared in recent weeks, and that has slowed down in the last week. I may be nearing an endpoint. I hope.
My sister in law had a mouse infestation in their swanky resort-like home. The exterminators said they had over a thousand mice! I sure do hope we don't have that many.
I so wish there was a spray that killed them. But mice are closely related to us and anything that would hurt them would hurt us.
I tried those sonic things. They do absolutely nothing. You would think with those big ears the mice would stay far away from those, but they don't seem to do anything. Make interesting night lights though.
The mice tore into the bag of poison the other day. That suggests starvation. I had it inside a plastic bag inside a cardboard box.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at June 21, 2022 07:31 AM (YrUo/)
6
Sounds like you're making progress. Of course, your last resort is to set the house on fire...
Posted by: Dana Mathewson at June 21, 2022 10:52 AM (pdDZ2)
7
Don't give me any ideas...
As someone told me, I could have the place tented. That would end every problem. But then, I would have tovacate, and any food left open anywhere in there would have to be tossed out.
Oh, and I don't know if it's even possible to tent a two story.
Absolute last option.
As someone told me, I could have the place tented. That would end every problem. But then, I would have tovacate, and any food left open anywhere in there would have to be tossed out.
Oh, and I don't know if it's even possible to tent a two story.
Absolute last option.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at June 22, 2022 08:06 AM (rFCjp)
8
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